Israel Flies Back Home Members Of ‘Lost Tribe’ From Manipur, Mizoram

Photo: Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council

India-West News Desk

NEW DELHI – A journey that spans centuries, continents, and contested memory reached a new chapter on April 23, when more than 250 members of the Bnei Menashe community from India landed at Ben Gurion Airport under a renewed Israeli government effort to bring them to the country.

Theirs is not simply another immigration story, but part of a long historical narrative rooted in one of the most enduring traditions of Jewish identity: the idea of the Lost Tribes.

The Bnei Menashe trace their lineage to the ancient Tribe of Manasseh, one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel believed to have been exiled after the Assyrian conquest more than 2,700 years ago. While historians continue to debate the veracity of such claims, the community’s oral tradition describes a prolonged migration west to east, passing through Persia, Afghanistan, Tibet, and China before settling in what is now northeast India. Over generations, they say, fragments of Jewish practice endured, including observance of ritual customs such as circumcision and dietary distinctions.

In the 19th century, British missionaries converted many in the region to Christianity, further complicating their religious identity. It was only in the late 20th century that sections of the community began formally returning to Judaism, seeking recognition and eventual relocation to Israel. Since the 1990s, about 4,000 Bnei Menashe have made that journey, aided largely by Shavei Israel, which works to identify and support groups claiming descent from the Lost Tribes.

This was the first group to enter Israel since the government approved a plan in November to accelerate their emigration from Manipur and Mizoram. The initiative, known as Operation Wings of Dawn, aims to relocate the remaining 6,000 members of the community by 2030, with roughly 1,200 expected to leave in 2026 alone.